Natural Born Killers was the last time I was excited to see an Oliver Stone film in a theater. Part of the compulsion to get a ticket for opening night was Stone was riding on the wave Quentin Tarantino-mania that started after Reservoir Dogs achieved major buzz out of Sundance in 1992. The video store clerk who became an industry buzz word was flying high. Tony Scott’s adaptation of his script for True Romance became the most violent date film of 1993. Things were shaping up to be major for Tarantino in 1994. He won the big prize at Cannes with Pulp Fiction, but that film wasn’t coming out until the Fall. People who were devouring anything Tarantino-flavored were excited to see what Oliver Stone was going to the script for Natural Born Killers. Stone had been the Tarantino of the ’80s having been a screenwriter and director who quickly became a name in the biz. Stone promised to amp up the new guy’s script with a visual indulgence. He was going to give us a movie about how the media makes homicidal maniacs the new heroes with his Natural Born Killers.
Mickey (White Men Can’t Jump‘s Woody Harrelson) and Mallory Knox (Yellowjackets‘ Juliette Lewis) seem like a rather wild couple as they grab lunch at a desert diner. Mickey orders up a slice of pie while Mallory dances to the jukebox. Then a few local guys come inside and mistake Mallory for a stripper in training. When the guys get a bit too frisky, Mallory and Mickey give them a harsh lesson in manners. Thanks to the couple, the diner won’t be serving dinner. Turns out Mickey and Mallory have been rather violent since the day they met. We get a flashback in the form of a sitcom as to how Mallory’s father (Caddyshack‘s Rodney Dangerfield) and mother (Elvira: Mistress of the Dark‘s Edie McClurg) aren’t sitcom parents. Dad is extra pervy to his young daughter. Things change when Mickey shows up with a delivery of meat from the butcher shop. He and Mallory rebel against her parents in a harsh way. The couple hit the road and keep up their killing ways. Following their trail of dead is Detective Jack Scagnetti (Heat‘s Tom Sizemore) and Wayne Gale (Two Girls and A Guy‘s Robert Downey Jr.), host of American Maniacs. Scagnetti is rather scummy in his obsession with sniffing out Mallory. Gale is so eager to exploit the couple to become a superstar of Tabloid TV journalism. After the couple are arrested, Gale works his magic to interview them at halftime of the Super Bowl instead of letting us watch a classic rock band. This prison interview doesn’t go as smoothly as when Josh Mankiewicz talks with a convict behind bars on Dateline. Will anyone survive the hellscape that Oliver Stone creates on screen?
The film was a shocker with the casting of Woody Harrelson as the homicidal Mickey. For years we’d welcomed him into our living rooms as the goofy bartender Woody on Cheers. Now he was smashing in front doors, taking hostages and murdering the rest of families. Comic Rodney Dangerfield (Back To School) becomes a character that doesn’t deserve any respect as he gets extremely scummy with his daughter Mallory. Tommy Lee Jones goes wild as the warden of the maximum security prison holding Mickey and Mallory. Oliver Stone doesn’t let his actors play any of the roles with a sense of reserve. This movie is all about excessive behavior. The movie itself is visually excessive as Stone and cinematographer Robert Richardson using every filmstock and size available along with various levels of video.
For all the overindulgence, seeing Natural Born Killers on its original theatrical release felt like something was missing. Turns out there were a lot of snipped moments. When Oliver Stone delivered his cut to the MPAA for a rating, they demanded a whole bunch of edits to receive that precious (and contractually obligated) R rating. While articles came out describing the missing footage, it was frustrating to know I paid for less. Nearly a year after the original VHS release, Natural Born Killers came out in Director’s Cut which gave us the version Jack Valenti’s Prude Patrol originally witnessed. While the cut is only three minutes longer, it’s a lot of little things that were restored. They had to clip the extreme frames. Stone also included deleted scenes including the Courtroom scene where Mickey serving as his own defense attorney gets to cross examine the only survivor of one of their massacres. Plus we got the original ending. The Director’s Cut and the deleted scenes elevated the film. Natural Born Killers: Collector’s Edition has both the Theatrical Cut (118:56) and The Director’s Cut (121:55). Only the Director’s Cut gets upgraded to 4K UHD which is appropriate. Natural Born Killers should only be seen in its natural form.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The 4K UHD transfer brings out the chaos of Robert Richardson’s cinematography. Oliver Stone approved of the transfer. The Audio on all three discs is 5.1 Surround DTS-HD MA and 2.0 Stereo DTS-HD MA. The movies are subtitled in English.
Commentary By Director/Co-Writer Oliver Stone has him speak of how he admired working for Warner Brothers. He wanted to have a sense of unreality to the film. The same commentary is used on the Theatrical and Director’s cut.
Introduction By Oliver Stone (3:43) was recorded for the 15th anniversary cut. He talks about how the film is a love story although a twisted one. He is happy to have the cut out that was originally butchered by the MPAA to get an R rating.
On Dawn’s Highway Bleeding (12:04) sits down with editor Hank Corwin. This was his first time in charge of cutting a movie. He was originally just doing the plates for the driving scenes. He lays out how he received a battlefield promotion to become the lead editor. Stone brought it Brian Berdan who had cut Blue Velvet to work with him. Hank swears him and Brian were the only sober people working on the film. He gets into the alternate universe he pulls out through the editing. He talks about Jane Hamsher’s influence on the soundtrack. If you want to read about Hamsher’s experience on the film, read her book Killer Instinct.
The Scream of the Butterfly (11:50) has producer Clayton Townsend get into Oliver’s pre-production feelings towards the movie. He wanted to get into exploitation news shows that were on TV at the time. Now we have entire networks. There’s talk of peyote. He gets into a preproduction road trip that added to the film’s script.
A Bloody Pail Of Nitro (11:14) allows Special Makeup Effects Artist Gordon J. Smith to give us the gruesome details. He liked how Oliver Stone during their first meeting looked at his portfolio and asked how he achieved the effects. He felt like he was doing something important with Stone. While he didn’t do too many of the effects on this film, Stone kept him close to approve of what the other effects folks were doing. He gets into the chainsawing off a guy’s legs effect and the bag of rattlesnakes.
Wilderness Of Pain (24:13) has cinematographer Robert Richardson get into how he went to El Salvador during the time of the death squads to shoot for PBS. This led to him working with Oliver Stone on Salvador. He ended up bring Stone’s DP for a decade. He was not in a normal state of mind during the filmmaking of Natural Born Killers. Stone said something that upset Richardson’s wife. He gets into the injuries he received on the shoot. He points out that even though he worked with Tarantino, there’s never been a mention of Natural Born Killers between them.
Natural Born Killers: Method in the Madness (15:47) has Oliver Stone and others get into how he wanted to do everything in a new way. Stone gets into how the early ’90s was into promoting criminals. There’s behind the scenes footage showing off Robert Richardson’s various cameras. “Everything was fair game. There were no rules,” said Stone. He points out he was in the middle of a divorce and had moved out of the house. His life was anarchy at that point.
Natural Born Killers Evolution: How Would It All Go Down Now? (22:00) has Oliver Stone feeling that everyone is all nuts. Woody Harrelson was speechless when he saw the film even if he was in it. Juliette Lewis refers to the film was a big F’ you to the media.
Chaos Rising: The Storm Around Natural Born Killers (26:30) is from an earlier home release since it is 1.33:1. Oliver Stone wants to blow away the hypocrisy. We get into why Oliver Stone cast Woody Harrelson. Stone saw the violence inside Woody. Robert Downey Jr talks about how nuts the shoot was. “It’s pagan Rome,” Downley says. Jane Hamsher talks about Stone’s go-go-go energy during the shoot. She talks about doing mushrooms with Stone during a location scout.
Deleted Scenes (20:49) includes the Courthouse scene with Ashley Judd. This is 1.33:1.
Deleted Scenes With Introductions By Oliver Stone (24:09) has the director explain why he had to cut these scenes.
Alternate Ending With Introduction By Oliver Stone (4:54) has him explain Arliss Howard’s strange character and how he factors into the end of the getaway ride.
Theatrical Trailer (1:47) has the film sold by how you’ve seen Oliver Stone’s look at our past. Now we will see what he sees is happening now.
Shout! Factory presents Natural Born Killers: Collector’s Edition. Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by David Veloz, Richard Rutowski & Oliver Stone. Starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones & Tom Sizemore. Boxset Contents: 1 4K UHD disc and 2 Blu-ray discs. Release Date: September 26, 2023.
